Double Twist
Chapter 157
“In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.”
—Mark Twain, Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World
WE RAN. We all jumped out of bed early and everyone went out to run. Donna and Beca weren’t athletes by any stretch, but they could both run a six-minute mile. One. They waved goodbye to us at the end of a mile and walked back home to get breakfast ready. Em kept the six-minute mile pace for two more miles and then turned back to jog and walk home. Nanette set the pace for the next three miles at closer to seven minutes. Her half marathon pace was a solid eight-minute mile, so we were pushing her pace. She was beginning to flag by the time we’d made the turn for the last four miles home. Just once around ‘the block.’ I clicked my pace down to nine minutes and didn’t try to push it home. It was enough that we managed to complete the full ten miles. And at that pace, Nanette and I could come in together.
“Ten miles in seventy-eight minutes,” Nanette said as we walked off our run. “If that had been a full thirteen in that time, it would have been great. We need to cut it to under seven minutes a mile to be competitive. Six minutes to be on the podium. How much time do we have before a half?”
“You’re running it, too,” I said. “Labor Day in Noblesville. The high school competition will be at the same time as everyone else.”
“Three and a half weeks. Yeah. We can do this.”
I wasn’t quite sure what it was she thought we could do but I agreed. Sure, we can do this.
Practice that afternoon was terrible. It was eighty-five degrees and muggy as a swamp. To top it off, Jock wanted me to lead a ten-mile run. I must have physically drooped as I moaned.
“Hopkins. What’s the matter with you? I want a nine-minute pace. You should be back here in ninety minutes.”
“I don’t know if I can do a nine-minute pace for ten miles today, coach.”
“Are you sick? What’s the problem?”
“Nan and I already did ten this morning. I don’t know if I can do ten more.”
“At what pace?”
“We varied but ended up in 78 minutes.”
“Bring it in. I’m not trying to kill you. The rest of you iron men, change of plans. Ross, lead out at an eight-minute pace for 10k. You know the markers. Use the Sycamore Creek trail. Go, go, go!”
“I’m sorry, coach. I thought we’d be doing sprints this afternoon.”
“I want you to go in and do an upper body lift. I think I need to meet with your personal trainer and coordinate our training. When is your next long run?”
“Nanette says she plans for me to do a full half on Mondays so I’m used to getting up and running Monday morning before the Noblesville half.”
“We really need to meet. Can you get us together this evening?”
“I think so. I’ll need to text her.” I hesitated a bit and then went on. “Jock, you know Nan is more than my personal trainer. We’re members of the same pod.”
“Pod? As in a family meant to hold together during service? Really?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Maybe I should meet with the rest of you as well. I’ve always felt the demands of athletic training are similar to the demands of service. It would be good practice for your pod. Are the others all as old as Nanette?”
“Uh… no, sir. Three are ten years or more older than me. One is three years older and just finished service this summer. Three are in service. Three are in my grade and one is a year younger.”
“Wh…? That’s… Twelve in your pod? Now I definitely want to meet them.”
“I think it will be all right, but I need to check with everyone. And, obviously, some will be missing.”
“Go get your workout in and see if you can set things up. If not everyone, try to get something with Nanette so we can coordinate your training.”
As soon as I had my phone, I called Donna. I thought she was the critical element. She was a teacher and I didn’t think any teachers at Mad Anthony knew about our relationship. I explained the situation.
“It’s going to become more obvious as we go,” Donna sighed. “I know Jock and I don’t think he’ll be judgmental. Call Nan and I’ll make sure Em and Beca are on board. Tell him to come for dinner. We have plenty.”
“Thank you, love. I know how much strain this puts you under.”
“I think we’ll all be moving next summer,” she said. “I spoke to Dr. Donahue for quite a while this morning and she was very encouraging, even offering to try to find contacts for Nanette, Sophie, Emily, and me. I should mention Joan to her as she’ll be home by then, too. And as far as your running goes, I need to coordinate your productions with your training schedule. This will be good.”
After I showered, I handed Jock a note with the address out in the country and invited him to dinner.
“This isn’t in our school district,” he said. “Are you living there?”
“I’m staying out there temporarily,” I said. “I don’t know if you heard, but last spring my home was destroyed by the tornado right after Easter. We’re kind of scattered around while we’re waiting for it to be rebuilt.”
“Okay. I’ll see you out there at six.”
I was glad Donna thought to call my parents. I was seventeen and technically, my schedule had to be approved by them. Jock had met them at an event or two and at my half-year party. He knew Emily from the gym and congratulated her on completing her service and what good shape she was in. Then he saw Donna.
“Donna Levy?”
“Hello, Jock. Are you keeping things under control at Mad Anthony?”
“I’m a little surprised. Is this why you quit teaching at our fair school?”
“Not exactly. I got a really good offer from North Huntington. It just made this relationship possible. I hope you won’t be thinking ill of me, Jock.”
“No. Not at all. I might get sidetracked occasionally when I think about it, but we all know service has done strange things to society. I’m good,” he said.
He got introduced to Beca and my parents. Jock was happy to find out that Livy was part of our pod. He’d thought maybe she and I were a couple at times. He had met Rachel at meets but didn’t know Joan at all. I’d completely forgotten that four of my girlfriends were in Kentucky. Jock suggested we’d just have to get together again this fall so he could meet everyone.
Dinner was simple. We made up a few things on the weekend and it took no time at all to thaw a meatloaf and throw baked potatoes in the oven. Donna already had farmer salad makings filling the fridge.
“Well, I was all ready to send Jacob out to lead a ten-mile run this afternoon when I discovered he’d already done ten miles this morning,” Jock said as we had ice cream and got down to the purpose of the get-together. “I thought it would be a good idea to coordinate our efforts so we don’t kill the guy.”
“Good idea,” Nanette said. “I should have called and talked to you about what I was planning in the first place. After all, you’re his coach.”
“We’re stretched so thin this year I’m prepared to accept whatever help I can get. We got two more cross country coaches this fall, but expanded by three teams. I’m afraid Jacob’s distances are going to suffer from lack of coaching. And even though we’ve got twenty guys who have agreed to the 10k races, Jacob is the only one who stands a chance at completing a half marathon—at least this early in the season.”
“I’m afraid running isn’t all we need to coordinate,” Donna said. “Jacob and Cindy—and by extension all the rest of us in the pod—have been put in a unique situation and may need to travel. As much as possible, I’d like to schedule the travel so Jacob doesn’t miss any major races. I downloaded the schedule from your website.”
“The schedule needs to be updated. Part of the split in teams has been to have meets at different times so we aren’t spending an entire day in one venue. We’d like Jacob for all the 10k races but the critical ones are the half marathons. That’s Labor Day, October second, October eleventh, and November twenty-seventh. There isn’t a typical sectional, regional, semi-state in the half. The state final is to be run at IU Thanksgiving weekend. All the half marathon races are public races.”
“Will you want Jacob to run the 10k in other meets?” Nanette asked. “The Labor Day and October second races are almost a month apart.”
“Right. The meet at The Plex next weekend includes a 10k race. The same is true of the following weekend at Huntington. Midweek is the Warsaw Invitational and there is no long run in that event. The following weekend, September fourth, there’s a 10k at Penn with the rest of the cross country events. I’d rather save Jacob for the sixth—the half marathon at Noblesville. We have plenty of guys wanting to try their mettle in the 10k.”
“How does mid-September look?” Donna asked.
“There is no 10k on the eleventh. Terre Haute is barely adequate to run 5k. Jacob is clear. The next weekend is West Noble and they are excited about their new 10k course. Once again, I could run other guys who want a chance in that race. It’s up to you, Jacob.”
“I’ve always liked the run at West Noble, but if Donna needs to schedule us in Washington that weekend, I’m fine with it.”
“Washington?”
“Uh… That’s where we have to travel to next, right, Donna?”
“Yes, and the second week of September was when Dr. Donahue was suggesting.”
“You guys are making it big, aren’t you?” Jock asked. I just shrugged but Beca nodded enthusiastically. “Well, there’s a 10k at The Plex again on the twenty-fifth. And, like I said, the second of October is the Covered Bridge half marathon. I’d don’t know if you’ve ever been there, Jacob, but Parke County is hilly. You’ve done the 10k at Pokagon and this is similar. You run paved roads and cross five covered bridges.”
“Love those hills,” I said, hoping my sarcasm came through.
“Okay, so if we take off the second week of September and keep Jacob clear until after Thanksgiving, we should be okay,” Donna said. “Go for it, Nanette.”
“We don’t have much time to get Jacob ready for a half marathon. My plan was to run thirteen miles on Monday mornings and ten on Thursdays,” Nanette said.
“How are you handling school? You have to be running by five o’clock to make class by seven-thirty,” Jock said.
“I have study hall first period,” I said. “I planned to request a waiver for late arrival on Mondays. I emailed my guidance counselor. Thursday is harder because I have a viola da gamba lesson during first period. Mr. LeBlanc has set up that and a mandolin lesson on Tuesday morning.”
“Don’t forget you have Ms. Devine for arranging on Wednesdays and Friday morning practice with Cindy,” Mom tossed in. I groaned.
“I don’t really have a study hall. I just don’t get credit for anything I’m doing that period.”
“Hmm. Nanette, how about if you work Jacob on the half Monday mornings, then. But leave him to me on Thursdays. I’d like to use his leadership to help some of the other guys along.”
We were thrilled to get our pod mates back from Kentucky Sunday night but the reunion was short. Sophie and Brittany needed to report in at the Adams household, Cindy was dropped off at her parents’ house, and only Desi made it all the way to the farm for the night since her parents would be in Kentucky for two more weekends. We made love but as soon as I’d injected her with a creamy center filling, Beca pushed me away and sent me to sleep with Nanette while Beca cleaned up Desi. I have no idea how long the moans went on in Desi’s room. Nanette and I slept.
We were outside in the cool morning air long before sunrise Monday morning. After stretching, Nan got me right on my pace. We weren’t pushing it quite as hard as we had the week before. Doing ten miles at a 7:20 pace is one thing. Adding three more miles to that distance is quite another. We just wanted to complete the course and set our pace at a nine-minute mile.
We wore reflective vests and a headlamp. Traffic was picking up by the time we were wrapping up at 7:30, meaning we were passed by three cars in the last half-hour. One of the cars contained Desi and Beca on their way to school for 7:45 start. They waved and honked. I managed to get a hand feebly into the air. But we hit the front steps at exactly two hours after we started. It wasn’t a great time, but we held the pace for the entire thirteen-point-two miles.
We got a shower and Emily had a plateful of bacon and eggs for us when we were dressed. Donna, of course, had left for her first day of school at North Huntington even before Desi and Beca left.
“My. Seeing that all the children get off to school in the morning is a big responsibility,” Em sighed as she kissed us at the door. “I might have to eat bonbons and watch soap operas the rest of the day to recover.”
“Just be sure to have a hot dinner waiting for me when I get home,” I laughed as I stroked my fingers through her pussy. The rest of the family had to dress for school and work. Em was delightfully naked.
“Mmm. It’s heating up already,” she whispered as she gave me another kiss. I rendered the hot kisses and pussy strokes to Nanette and we headed to our vehicles. We were definitely going to have to do something about how many cars and trucks we needed. Four were headed out this morning and Em’s Prius was still sitting in the drive. Livy’s Wrangler and Rachel’s Yaris were parked at their parents’ houses waiting for them to pick them up when they found out what and where their NSO training would be.
I got to my study hall about ten minutes before the bell to go to physics and checked in with the proctor. She looked down the list of names and made a check beside mine before handing me a note. I looked at it and crumpled it into my pocket. I’d been summoned to Mr. Gieseke’s office immediately after school. He’d damn well better not be trying to get me into calculus again. At least my official class schedule was what I signed up for last spring.
“Everybody holding up for first day of classes?” I asked as we plopped down at our table. Beca, Desi, Brittany, and I had managed to get the same Senior English class in third period, but in order to manage lunch together, the three of them had ended up with a split period constitutional government class while Cindy and I were in orchestra.
“Same old same old,” Beca sighed. “I wish I was taking physics with you, though earth and space science is going to be interesting, I guess.”
“I think the difference between that and the environmental science class Brittany and I are in is that you get to look through a telescope and we look through a microscope,” Desi said. “I am really not ready for school this year.”
“Sing it, sister,” Britt said. “If it weren’t for my dance performance class, I’d cut the rest of the day.”
“I love having two performance classes,” Desi said. “The elite show choir will be a blast. And my acting class is strictly scenes. I’ll be memorizing and performing a scene just about every week.”
“How about you, Cindy?” I asked.
“Um… I got a change in my schedule I wasn’t expecting,” she said. “I don’t understand how they can preempt my Spanish class, but I’m now in constitutional government last period.”
“Same class as me,” I said. Hmm. “I’m sensing a disturbance in the force. I think the National School must have influenced that decision. They want you to have that class before we start service next summer if you decide to go.”
“I think it’s already decided, Jacob,” Cindy said. “I’m going with you.” I reached over and gave her a little peck on the cheek.
“Speaking of which, the school wants us to come out to DC to tape our next video the second week of September. We need to pick our next revolutionary song. I still can’t believe the president of the fucking country quoted our memes in her address.”
“Your memes,” Beca said. “Although Joan says Sophie’s image with the scroll is trending on Twitter. Of course, a lot of smart asses have erased the text and substituted other messages. Sophie’s still getting a lot of play out of it and Joan isn’t moving against anyone unless it’s obscene.”
“I’m so jealous she got to be in the video and I was stuck here with tearful goodbyes,” Brittany said. “Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t have missed saying goodbye to Rachel for the world. Someone had to take Jacob’s place.”
“We all did our best,” Beca said.
“We should do that music from Glory,” Cindy said out of the blue. “Remember, we watched it in the tent.”
“Which piece?” Desi asked.
“The one with the Latin. You could sing it.”
“Ooh. That gives me chills,” Desi said.
“What music is that?” I asked. Cindy grabbed her iPad and quickly thumbed to a piece of music. She handed me her earbuds.
“Just listen, don’t watch the scene.” It was chilling. I could see us preparing a video on this if we could get the rights.
“It’s familiar,” I said. “Not the music but the words. I think it’s part of the requiem mass. ‘Dies Irae.’ It was one of the texts Miss Lustig had us translate near the end of last year. I like it.”
“We really need to do some arranging,” Cindy said. “If we do it for guitar, flute, and voice, it would be so cool. Maybe you should call Remas and ask her if she’s ready to audition right now,” she giggled.
“Um… Let’s see if Donna and Sophie can get rights first,” I suggested.
“Well, if it isn’t the revolutionary,” Mr. Gieseke said when I stepped into his office.
“Please, Mr. Gieseke, can we not go into me taking calculus again. I really need that first period study hall.”
“I’ve given up,” he said. “Imagine my surprise Friday when I was visited in the middle of the day by the principal. And not only the principal but the chairman of the school board.”
“Why would they be here?” I asked. I’d only seen the principal once when he wasn’t making a speech or managing commencement. He’d shown up at the end of the hall and watched while we filmed ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.’ I had an uncomfortable feeling about this.
“It seems they have been in negotiations with someone very powerful. I have been instructed to make every effort to accommodate unusual schedules and absences, including troubleshooting issues with teachers and coaches, for a certain student who has made a name for himself by lampooning the president.”
“I’ve never lampooned the president, sir,” I said defensively.
“Whatever. This accommodation extends not only to you, but to three other seniors and a junior I am told are your accomplices. I suppose you already have dates selected for your absences,” he said, pulling out a tablet and pen before looking at me expectantly.
“My pod has been summoned the second full week of September,” I said. “We’re still trying to tie down the exact details.”
“Four weeks. You’ll need to be working ahead in all your classes, Jacob. All of you. I can help with having attendance waived but not with completing the work.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And then?”
“We’re trying to make sure our schedule doesn’t conflict with anything else before the end of the semester. Things are likely to get hotter after the first of the year. I have cross country races and orchestra concerts to consider as well,” I said.
“You’d have never made it in math anyway,” Gieseke sighed. “Please keep me informed as far in advance as possible when you will be needing exceptions.”
“Mr. Gieseke,” I said, “when I started here as a broken student who could hardly walk, you were really helpful in solving my problems with Ms. Freeman and getting me into a class I could use. Maybe I never expressed how much I appreciated that. Thank you. I’m sorry I disappointed you regarding a career in math but I think the National Service has let up on the pressure over that. Music is an amazing thing that has changed my life. It has a mathematical beauty to it and I find that all my math aptitude is required when I’m dividing a measure into beats and finding the tempo for a scherzo movement. It wasn’t wasted. I hope we can return to a working relationship that is reminiscent of those days.” He leaned back in his chair and considered me for a long moment. Well, I’d made an overture and it was up to him to respond.
“I was disappointed, Jacob. You reminded me of what I thought I could have become if I hadn’t been distracted. Pressure to earn a living. Family. Children. Car payments. I went into teaching because I couldn’t afford a PhD. And a theoretical mathematician doesn’t earn that good a salary. When the NSRE contacted the school about encouraging you to continue in math, I grabbed hold of it as a mission,” he sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to experience the frustration I had felt. I quit teaching math because I couldn’t stand in a classroom with idiots as students and try to get them through elementary problems. But you are not frustrated. You are becoming successful in something you love, perhaps as much as I loved math. I’ll do what I can to help you. Keep me informed.”
I was dismissed. At least I felt I’d made some progress.
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